The U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report on U.S. Income was released on Wednesday, and it underscores how the Obama administration’s policies of redistribution retarded growth for years. From the Wall Street Journal:

Real median household incomes ticked up 1.8% to $61,372 between 2016 and 2017 while the poverty rate dropped 0.4 percentage points to 12.3 % according to the Census Bureau. Income gains were strongest among Hispanic households (3.7%). The poverty rates for blacks and Hispanics fell to 21.2% and 18.3% respectively, the lowest since at least 1972.

Incomes increased across the distribution range with the share of people earning less than $15,000 declining 0.3 percentage points to 10.7, the lowest level since 2007. The proportion of households earning more than $150.000 increased by 0.7 percentage points to 14.7%.

Investment earnings have driven up incomes at the higher level. At lower levels the income growth appears to be due to more people working more. Last year the number of people with employment earnings rose by 1.7 million last year, the numbers of people working full-time and year-round grew 2.4 million. This has lifted nearly one million people out of poverty in 2017.

Former president Obama tried to take credit for the surge of good news, but the slower growth over the past 8 years has meant that lower-skilled people who were working part time have moved to full time jobs, though that has slightly depressed the statistical growth in median earnings for full-time workers. Employers are scrounging for workers with job openings hitting a record high of 6.9 million in July.

Democrats are always sure that economic growth is simply the rich growing richer, for they assume that is who gets the tax cuts. They are sure that more direction from those in charge, and more regulation will help business to grow. But freedom is always the spark. The people who have built a business and grown it, know what they need, and a little more freedom to keep a little more of their own money usually means they invest it where it will do the most good.

That suggests that perhaps the bureaucrats in D.C. don’t really know more about running a business than the deplorable folk out there actually doing it. The small businessmen of America are not the ones getting in trouble for improperly using campaign funds on vacation travel.

Then I ran onto this article about Hillary’s five point plan to “build an economy that works for everyone.” It’s an excellent run-down of all the reasons we didn’t vote for Hillary.

A 100-days jobs plan: Break through Washington gridlock to make the boldest investment in good-paying jobs since World War II. Hillary will fight to pass a plan in her first 100 days in office to invest in infrastructure, manufacturing, research and technology, clean energy, and small businesses. She will strengthen trade enforcement, and she’ll say no to trade deals like TPP that don’t meet a high enough bar of creating good-paying jobs. And she will make the U.S. the clean energy superpower of the world—with half a billion solar panels installed by the end of her first term and enough clean, renewable energy to power every home in America within 10 years of her taking office.

There’s more wonderfulness, do read the whole thing. Its an excellent summary of why Democrats just don’t understand free market economics.